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RWBY: Of Runaways And Stowaways (Review)

Episode 4 is going live tomorrow and so I have the review of episode 3 right here. Of Runaways and Stowaways is a

We start out catching up with Blake for the first time this season, away on a boat and looking even more introverted than she normally is as the captain attempts to strike up a conversation with her. Because she’s very paranoid. I’m not sure where she’s going, this wasn’t really made clear, but she’s going far away. And she tossed her ribbon away, which I liked, perhaps it’s because she’s resolving to not hide herself, but also because it represents a connection to her old life, which she might be trying to run away from. I might have missed something but that plot is shrouded in a little bit of mystery for me at the moment. If I’d been in Sun’s situation I’d probably have come up with the same guess that she was trying to get revenge on the White Fang, although I still wouldn’t be surprised if her ‘going home’ turns out to be more than that. And Sun coming along for the ride is so like him, I didn’t think he was a good character at all when he first showed up but he’s proved himself to be a great mainstay and probably the best of RWBY’s younger male cast. When the Grimm seadragon comes along we get some beautiful combat out of her and Sun in the episode’s main spectacle, in that situation Blake’s particular weapon and fighting style is kind of perfect as she floats above the islets with the help of Sun’s ghost-monkeys, although I imagine any Huntress worth her salt would have found a way to make it work beautifully, even if it’s just machine-gunning everything as Coco.

And I must say, the animation quality in this section of story outstrips anything I’ve seen before, with the water, the shadows, the character designs with special mention improvements to Sun’s hair the way Blake’s weapons wrap around the Grimm’s wings, it all looks visually stunning in a way I’ve never seen RWBY be before, if this is how much they can improve, I’ve already said it, but they must be on to a huge winner here.

Onto the small portion of this episode devoted to Yang, as we finally give the fourth member of RWBY her much needed dues and I had been looking forward to this, I knew we’d get some good drama out of her trauma, if you’ll pardon me, Ms Xiao Long, you’re obviously notably fragile and seeing you freak out over breaking a glass and react with dull disinterest to an item that could help you regain your functionality, it’s good drama because it really makes us feel for you. I hope you get back on your feet as soon as possible.

The final scene with Cinder saying she killed Ospin, I don’t think Salem really believes her ‘Yes’, her final line seemed to indicate that, who else could she consider a worthy Big Good opponent? But otherwise it revealed nothing really aside from more of Cinder’s tortured mind and how Merc and Emerald seem even more creeped out by what goes on behind the scenes at EVIL HQ. So decent stuff but not essential.

On the whole, excellent and needed episode to set up Yang and Blake’s arcs for this volume, let down a bit by the ending, but at least all of the main plots for the volume should be a-go, now let’s have them maneuver into something really pretty.